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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25152796">By Blood and By Me (I’ll Fall When You Leave)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hi_irashay/pseuds/hi_irashay'>hi_irashay</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stranger Things (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(LOL gross), Aftermath of Possession, Anxiety, FEELINGS AU, Frottage, Kissing, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Tenderness, Though there is a DISTINCT lack of awareness/insight from the person experiencing these things, just guys being dudes, so like, take that as you will</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:42:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,461</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25152796</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hi_irashay/pseuds/hi_irashay</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“It looks like you’re surviving.” Steve’s voice was softer, gentler.</p><p>Billy whipped around to give Steve an incredulous look.  “Oh yeah?” he spat, anger flaring.  “And what does ‘surviving’ look like?”</p><p>Steve’s eyes traveled up and down Billy’s body twice - once quickly, once slowly.  “You,” he said.</p><p> </p><p>(An AU in which BILLY DIDN'T DIE)<br/>(That's it.  That's the AU)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>100</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>By Blood and By Me (I’ll Fall When You Leave)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelheadedhipster/gifts">angelheadedhipster</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A trauma-informed gift for my bae, who STILL HASN'T FINISHED S3 and thus this entire thing is a spoiler for her (LOL).</p><p>Love to love you, bby &lt;3.</p><p>Thanks to our girl @maypolegoat for the handholding, as always.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So Hargrove, you touched by the angels or what?” Billy jerked his head up, looking wildly around the locker room. It was more the noise that startled him than the voice - the voice was oddly familiar. Didn’t raise his hackles. <em>At least there’s one thing that doesn’t.</em></p><p>“Harrington,” Billy responded, curtly, mindlessly bringing a hand up to play at the whistle around his neck. “You get the day off from babysitting or something?”</p><p>Steve laughed. “Pretty much.” He walked closer and plopped down on the bench to Billy’s left. “You didn’t answer my question, though.”</p><p>Billy turned his head to look at Steve dead on. “Maybe because it was a stupid question.” He found he couldn’t maintain eye contact for long, and returned his gaze to the tiled floor. The rather disgusting tiled floor, the one he was supposed to be mopping.</p><p>Steve laughed again. “That’s fair.” He scooted closer to Billy on the bench. “I guess what I mean to say is - it’s surprisingly good to see you back out and about after… you know.” He was close enough that Billy could feel him shift uncomfortably where he sat. “After… what happened at the mall?”</p><p>He was so goddamned awkward; at times Billy could barely reconcile the Steve in front of him with the Cool Guy Steve he’d first met. These times had changed them all.</p><p>“Yeah yeah, I know you love me. Save the sappy shit for the kids.” Billy hesitated, before knocking his shoulder into Steve’s. A silent recognition, a begrudging thanks. Billy let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding when Steve returned the gesture.</p><p>Suddenly feeling like the bench couldn’t support him, Billy leapt up and grabbed for the mop, which had been propped against the lockers in front of them. He pushed it around the floor aimlessly, both dreading and eagerly anticipating what Steve might say next.</p><p>“How’ve you been holding up though, man, seriously?” Billy could feel the weight of Steve’s gaze on his back. Unseen, he frowned and mopped the floor harder.</p><p>He just… Billy knew what people wanted from him now. He knew - they wanted all the details. All the GORY details. They wanted to know what it was like to be possessed by the Mindflayer. They wanted to know what it was like to be its puppet, to not have any control over his body or his mind. They wanted answers for the possessed who hadn’t survived. They wanted him to satisfy their own morbid curiosity.</p><p>They didn’t want to know what it did to him, how it left him, how it changed him. They didn’t want to hear anything about his nightmares. How they made him afraid to sleep, and even more afraid to wake up. They didn’t want to know what it meant to live in the after.</p><p>Problem is - Billy couldn’t remember the things they wanted to know, and could only remember the things they didn’t.</p><p>Steve surprised him, though. Steve always seemed to surprise him. Billy had to mop the floor harder about it.</p><p>“How does it look like I’m holding up, Harrington?” Billy fixed his gaze furiously on the tiled floor, grip tightening on the mop. He straightened as he heard Steve shuffle up from the bench - not moving any closer, just standing now instead of sitting.</p><p>“It looks like you’re surviving.” Steve’s voice was softer, gentler.</p><p>Billy whipped around to give Steve an incredulous look. “Oh yeah?” he spat, anger flaring. “And what does ‘surviving’ look like?”</p><p>Steve’s eyes traveled up and down Billy’s body twice - once quickly, once slowly. “You,” he said.</p><p>Billy threw the mop onto the floor, relishing the way Steve flinched and looked away at its clatter. “Stop it,” he kept his voice low, wanting to scream but not wanting to risk attracting attention. It was a miracle that they’d given him this lifeguarding job back, especially since it was the literal scene of some of his crimes. And the thought of losing it, after everything else he’d been through, felt like one straw too many. “Just… stop it.”</p><p>Billy could feel the fight going out of him as quickly as it had come. He slumped back against the lockers, a dial knob poking uncomfortably into his spine. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Steve.”</p><p>Steve’s eyes flickered back to Billy’s, eyebrows raising in surprise. Billy had used his first name as a weapon, as a defense - meant to attack, meant to distract. It was a tactic that worked every time.</p><p>“The truth, maybe?” Steve brought his hand up to push his stupid hair off of his stupid face, then left it there - hand on top of head, elbow out, gaze questioning. He looked nervous. He looked perfect. “I know we’re not exactly friends, Billy…” Steve paused, as if testing the feel of Billy’s name in his mouth. “But you don’t have to hide anything from me, man. Not after the shit we’ve seen.”</p><p>“I’m not hiding anything,” Billy didn’t bother to keep the bitterness from his voice, crossing his arms over his chest and tipping his head back to look at the ceiling. “That’s what nobody wants to hear. I can’t remember shit about what happened to me, I got nothing to say about all that. But I still…” Billy squeezed his eyes and his mouth shut, not wanting to let anything else slip out.</p><p>He heard the soft footsteps of Steve coming closer, felt his warmth as he settled in next to him.</p><p>“But you still…” Steve prompted, so close that his words were a puff of air across Billy’s cheek.</p><p>Billy opened his eyes and blinked up at the ceiling. “I still have to live with it, I guess. And it’s…” he exhaled loudly through his nose, before tilting his head to the side to look at Steve. Who was looking back, wide-eyed gentleness. Billy felt caught - trapped, but somehow soothed. “It’s hard,” he finished, lamely, wrongfooted by it all.</p><p>Steve just nodded in response, seemingly unbothered. He maintained eye contact like it was a fight he needed to win. And Billy let him, cutting his eyes away before pushing off the wall of lockers to pick the mop up off the floor.</p><p>“I have to finish this, so…” Billy gestured vaguely around him with the hand not holding the mop. Steve nodded again.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah of course.” Steve ran another hand through his hair and started to head for the locker room exit. He paused at the door, hand on the knob as he took a deep breath and looked over his shoulder back at Billy. “I’m, uhh… here for you, I guess?”</p><p>Billy snorted. “That’s reassuring, Harrington, thank you.”</p><p>Steve’s shoulders relaxed, and he allowed a small grin to play across his face. “You are very welcome, Hargrove.”</p><p>Billy watched as Steve left, eyes lingering on the door as it closed behind him.</p><p> </p><p>+++</p><p> </p><p>Billy stood in the locker room, freshly showered after his morning shift. He tightened the towel around his waist and shook his damp hair out of his eyes, reaching into his locker for a comb. He let his mind wander as he ran the comb through his hair, the tines catching on a snag every so often. The uneventful shift, the slightly terrifying expanse of a free evening ahead of him, the low-grade hunger rumbling around his stomach…</p><p>A soft cough startled him, making him jump so badly he dropped the comb and felt his towel slip dangerously low on his hips. Billy grabbed at it clumsily as he whirled around, ready to intimidate the fuck out of the dumbass who dared sneak up on him.</p><p>It was Harrington. Steve. <em>Of fucking course.</em></p><p>“Jesus, asshole, creep much?” Billy felt his face grow hot, against his will. He clutched tighter at the towel, trying to secure the folds.</p><p>“I could not have been more obvious about coming in,” Steve replied breezily. “You were just too zoned out to notice.” He hesitated, before taking a step closer. “You WERE only zoned out, right? Not…” he flapped his hand loosely against his own head in a random gesture.</p><p>“No, Harrington, it doesn’t work like that.” Billy huffed, annoyance quickly taking over from the anxiety spike of before. “Mindflayer’s gone, the little witch made sure of that. Stuck with just me now.”</p><p>“Right, of course, I knew that.” Steve came towards him to lean against the bank of lockers. “Stuck with you, indeed.” His gaze lingered on Billy’s, an expression Billy was used to seeing from the neighborhood ladies. He knew what that look meant, where it was hoping to go - he just never expected to receive that look from Steve.</p><p>It had been… some time, Billy would reluctantly admit. An even longer time when it came to dudes. But if Billy were honest with himself, he’d been getting looks like this from Steve ever since he first came to Hawkins. He just didn’t care enough to try to do anything about them, besides occasionally throw it back into his stupid (perfect) face.</p><p>But then he lost a few weeks to alien possession, so you know. Fuck it. Carpe damn or whatever.</p><p>Billy loosened his grip on the towel and let it slide down a few inches. He met Steve’s eyes straight-on, and smirked in a way he knew usually got things going. Slipping into seduction mode felt like a second skin, at once both comfortable and electrifying. As if he were awake for the first time in a long time, but still lying in the warmest, safest bed.</p><p>Steve straightened up from his slouch, a smile playing across his face as Billy began to walk closer. One step, then another, and another until he was practically toe to toe with Steve.</p><p>“Now what could two people stuck with each other do, I wonder?” Steve’s voice was barely more than a whisper, still smiling widely as he raised a questioning eyebrow.</p><p>Billy shrugged one shoulder, tilting his head to the side to look at Steve through his eyelashes. “You tell me. You’re the one who’s, I believe you said, ‘here for me’.” He brought his hands to Steve’s hips and idly stroked his thumbs up and down Steve’s sides. Out of the corner of his eye Billy could see Steve raising a hand to Billy’s face, and his body reacted before his mind could catch up. He shoved Steve away - hard - and heard his body hit the lockers with a metallic thunk.</p><p>It suddenly felt impossible to breathe, and Billy found himself gasping for air as he buried his face into his clenched fists.</p><p>“Whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy, calm down.” He was vaguely aware of Steve speaking to him, but Billy was too busy dying, apparently, to respond.</p><p>The tightness Billy’s chest started to loosen after a few more gasping breaths. He lifted his head out of his fists to see Steve still pressed against the lockers, hands raised in front of him and a wary expression on his face.</p><p>They stayed like that for a moment, Billy breathing and Steve watching. Both waiting to see what Billy might do next.</p><p>Billy narrowed his eyes - angry at Steve for treating him like some sort of wild animal, angry at himself for maybe earning that treatment. What the fuck had that been, anyway?</p><p>“You’re OK, Billy, it’s just me.” Steve’s voice was calm, hands still raised defensively in front of him.</p><p>His use of Billy’s name was the final straw. Billy surged forward and grabbed Steve’s wrists, pressing them back against the lockers. He was so close that he could see Steve’s pupils dilate, was practically breathing in his exhalation of surprise.</p><p>Without letting his mind do any more thinking, Billy leaned in and pressed his lips to Steve’s. Just for a moment, just the slightest bit of pressure. He drew back to study Steve’s face - his eyes had drifted shut, mouth slack. It was a good look on him.</p><p>Billy kept looking at Steve, probably for too long. Steve blinked his eyes open and raised an eyebrow in a clear challenge.</p><p>Billy leaned back in to kiss Steve again, with more pressure, more urgency. He tightened his hands around Steve’s wrists and ran his tongue along the seam of Steve’s lips. Steve moaned as he opened them, nothing tentative or afraid about it.</p><p>Steve kissed like he was eager to please. Billy wanted to be pleased.</p><p>Billy pressed even closer as they continued to kiss furiously, slotting his body up against Steve’s as their lips and tongues slid over each others’. Billy ground his hips against Steve’s in a slow, sensuous motion - Steve’s answering moan was louder than before, and he broke away from their kiss to press his head into Billy’s shoulder and breathe heavily.</p><p>“Jesus, Billy,” Steve panted out, breath hot and damp down Billy’s chest.</p><p>Again with the name - it was suddenly all too much for Billy again, and he pushed away from Steve. Much more gently this time, first backing his hips away and then releasing Steve’s wrists.</p><p>Steve was slow to bring his hands down from beside his head as Billy put a few feet of distance between them. He pressed fingers against his lips on the way down, a look of wonder on his face. Billy couldn’t look at him anymore; he grabbed his clothes from off the bench and swept into a changing stall, slamming the door behind him. He let his forehead rest against the chilly metal, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to regulate his breathing. He stayed there until he heard Steve shuffle out of the locker room. And then another five minutes after that.</p><p> </p><p>+++</p><p> </p><p><em>Another day, another dollar</em>. Billy squinted around the pool, barely attending to the desperate housewives and their screaming brats. Shannon would be coming to relieve him in five minutes, so if everyone could keep from drowning or hurting themselves until then it would be great, thanks.</p><p>It was another scorching Hawkins summer day, Billy could feel rivulets of sweat running down his back and chest, dampening the band of his swim trunks. The chair’s umbrella did little to keep the sun or heat at bay. Billy leaned forward, elbows on knees, and let his eyes pass idly over the pool deck, over all the mommies watching their precious darlings splash around and terrorize one another.</p><p>And, <em>oh</em>. Steve.</p><p>Steve smiled and lifted a hand, lounging opulently on a chair close to the guard room. Poised as if he had been waiting for Billy to notice him - wayfarers on, chest bare, a white smudge of sunscreen over his forehead where he hadn’t rubbed it in all the way. The nerd.</p><p>Billy tilted his head in recognition, before quickly looking away under the guise of scanning the pool. When his gaze made its way back to Steve he still had the same self-satisfied smile on his face. Billy held his gaze this time, nudging his sunglasses down his nose to look at Steve over the top of them. Steve’s smile widened, and he puffed out his chest like a preening peacock while bringing a hand up to play with his hair. Billy almost laughed at how ridiculous he looked. Almost.</p><p>Maybe Billy had been thinking about their kiss in the days since. Maybe he had, maybe he hadn’t.</p><p>He wanted to do it again.</p><p>“Tag, you’re it,” called Shannon in a dry voice, walking up to the foot of the chair. <em>And not a moment too soon.</em> Billy climbed down from the chair and stood next to it, keeping watch as Shannon climbed up. As soon as she was situated he turned away, taking a circuitous path back towards the guard room. If it happened to take him past Steve’s chair, so be it.</p><p>If today happened to be the day he gunned for a repeat, so be it.</p><p>As he passed, Billy again pushed his sunglasses down his nose to look at Steve. Billy jerked his head in the general direction of the guard room, then quirked an eyebrow up in question. Even behind his wayfarers, it was very obvious the way Steve’s eyes widened. Steve nodded, then peeled himself up off the chair to follow Billy into the guard room.</p><p>It took a minute for Billy’s eyes to adjust from the blinding brightness of the pool deck to the cool dim of inside. He took his sunglasses and whistle off and put them in his assigned cubby, composing himself before turning to look at Steve, who was standing in the middle of the room with his sunglasses in one hand. Billy silently held a palm out for them, and added them to the cubby with his other things.</p><p>He arranged his face into a suggestive smirk before turning around again, moving to pull the guard room door closed. He leaned up against it, crossing his arms and saying “So. Here again.”</p><p>Steve let out a small chuckle. “I was wondering if you were going to bring it up,” he confessed, one hand digging into his hair and the other on his hip. “Or if you were going to pretend it never happened, or that you forgot, or something.”</p><p>“I don’t remember a lot, but I definitely remember that.” Billy reached behind himself to lock the guard room door, and pushed off it to walk towards Steve. “How ‘there for me’ you were.”</p><p>“Bet we can do something else you’ll remember.” Steve’s gaze was level upon Billy’s, eyes searching. “You gonna freak out on me again?”</p><p>Billy scoffed and took a step closer. “That wasn’t freaking out.” Another step. “I’ll show you freaking out.”</p><p>“What does that even mean, man?” Steve’s eyes sparkled in the dull light from the bare bulb on the ceiling.</p><p>“Just…” Billy had reached Steve, grabbed his hips and pushed him back against the padded table in the corner that was ostensibly for first aid purposes, but more often used for naps between stints in the chair.</p><p>“Just shut up,” Billy finished, bringing his hands up to frame Steve’ face and leaning in to kiss him. Steve opened for him easily this time, barely even making Billy work for it. Which just made Billy kiss him harder, the languid slide of lips and tongue becoming something more urgent and desperate.</p><p>Steve seemed to have learned his lesson from last time and kept his hands down, clutching at the side of the table. It sent a slug of heat down Billy’s gut - at that power, at having Steve at his mercy.</p><p>Billy deepened the kiss and ground their hips together, this time not stopping at once. He kept rolling his hips into Steve’s as they continued to kiss, and felt both of them begin to harden. The fabric of their bathing suits helped to make it a smooth slide, providing delicious friction. Steve was making the most gorgeous little sounds, working himself up to a full-on whimper as Billy increased the pressure of his hips.</p><p>At the next grind Billy stopped, moving instead to wedge a thigh between Steve’s legs and giving both their dicks some solid muscle to push into. Billy groaned at the increased sensation, rolling his pelvis into Steve’s thigh. He encouraged Steve to do the same by moving a hand down to his ass, pulling Steve up against him harder.</p><p>Even with a sex-fogged brain, Billy couldn’t help but notice that Steve’s hands stayed obediently at his sides, and Billy found he didn’t like that at all anymore. Billy dragged his other hand down Steve’s arm until he reached Steve’s hand, then took it and put it on his own ass. He pressed it against his cheeks once, hoping Steve would get the picture.</p><p>And Steve did, immediately moving his other hand to join and pulling Billy into him with surprising strength. It felt so good, <em>too good</em>. Billy finally tore his mouth away from Steve’s only to move it down the side of his neck, alternately nipping and sucking bruises into it. Anything to make Steve moan. Anything to make sure he would feel it tomorrow.</p><p>Their movements were growing more erratic, hips losing rhythm as they each tried to pull the other in the hardest. Billy continued to mouth at Steve’s neck as the pressure grew in his groin.</p><p>“I’m so fucking close, Billy,” Steve panted into his ear. “Yeah, yeah, right there.” Billy latched his mouth onto that spot and sucked as hard as he could. Steve’s whole body tensed, before relaxing into Billy’s arms with a sigh as he came.</p><p>Billy wasn’t far behind him, reached a hand down to palm at his balls at the same time that he pressed his dick into Steve’s thigh. He came like that, with Steve’s arms snaking up to his lower back to rest just above the curve of his ass.</p><p>They stayed like that as they came down, arms fully around one another as they gasped for breath. Billy made sure to be the one to pull away first, stumbling towards the first aid cabinet. He dug around for the gauze and tore off two lengths, tossing one to Steve. “Clean yourself up.”</p><p>“You’re a real charmer, you know that, Hargrove?” Steve’s tone was laughing as he caught the gauze in one hand. He shamelessly stuck that hand down the front of his trunks and made some compulsory sweeping motions with it. Billy turned to attend to his own mess, slightly regretting that he’d have to go through one more rotation in the chair with dried jizz in his shorts and all over his junk. A small price to pay for a fantastic orgasm, really.</p><p>He tossed his own bit off gauze into the trash and felt something soft and wet hit his back - Steve’s gauze.</p><p>“Still can’t shoot for shit, Harrington,” Billy teased as he picked it up off the floor and put it in the trash.</p><p>“And yet looks like I can still score! Imagine that!” Steve came closer to Billy and held a tentative hand out. Billy took it, begrudgingly, and pulled Steve in until their foreheads were touching.</p><p>“Shut. Up.” Billy said, feeling cross eyed at trying to make eye contact at this close a range. He moved to press their lips together again when there was a sharp knock on the door.</p><p>“Billy?” Shannon. <em>Goddamn.</em> “You in there with someone? A kid trip and fall again?”</p><p>“Uhh, no - sorry, give me a second.” Billy called, still clinging to Steve’s hand and pressing their foreheads together. He heard Steve sigh, felt his hand loosen under Billy’s grip.</p><p>“Well hurry up, you’re up in five.” Shannon’s voice got progressively softer, as if she were moving away from the door.</p><p>“Guess that’s my cue, huh,” Steve said. He pulled his forehead away and met Billy’s eyes briefly, before stretching up on his toes to give Billy a kiss in the precise spot where his forehead had just been. It was a stupidly nerdy move. Stupid, nerdy, and horribly tender. Damningly perfect. “See you around, eh?” Steve pulled away with a wink, veering around Billy to grab his sunglasses. He slid them on in a smooth motion, unlocked the door and stepped out into the sun.</p><p>Billy stayed put, eyes unfocused and mind wandering to a dangerous place. To a place where he fucked Steve in the back of his car and then took him to dinner at a nice restaurant. To a place where he met Steve as he got off work and bought him something flashy at the mall. To a place where they were together, and happy.</p><p>
  <em>Godfuckingdamn.</em>
</p><p>Billy allowed himself a final moment of dangerous thinking, before grabbing his own sunglasses and whistle and heading out for his next turn.</p><p> </p><p>+++</p><p> </p><p>Billy would never admit it, not to anyone, but sometimes he still relished in the simple feeling of sun on his face. Especially when it was intentional, not a side effect of lifeguarding, and he could just enjoy it without also watching out for anyone.</p><p>He was waiting outside the mall for Max, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed and face tipped up to the sun. She was inside with her stupid little friends doing whatever dumb shit they got up to. Chauffeur to teenagers, that was his life these days. Teenagers who still sometimes gave him side-eyed glances, like his eyes would turn black and he would attack them again. Assholes, they had no fucking idea.</p><p>Except they did, Billy knew. The Byers kid did, at least. He glanced the least, but stared the most.</p><p>“Hello, sunshine!” A wry voice in his ear startled him out of his reverie, Billy hadn’t even noticed anyone approaching.</p><p>“Harrington,” Billy uncrossed his arms and straightened up a bit. He didn’t look at Steve, but felt him settle against the wall next to him. “What are you doing here?”</p><p>“Oh you know,” Steve’s tone was placid. “Shift starts in 10. What are YOU doing here?”</p><p>Billy snorted. “That’s probably why I’m still waiting, then.”</p><p>Steve made a questioning sound, shifting a bit closer to Billy. “Oh reaaaaaaaally!” Steve drew the word out, Billy didn’t have to look at him to know he was waggling his eyebrows. Like an asshole.</p><p>Billy shifted a bit closer to Steve, too. Two could play at that game. “I’m the driver for the kids today,” Billy clarified. “They probably want free shit from you.”</p><p>“Of course,” Steve responded, closing the space between them. Shoulders touching, hands grazing. “No other reason to be at the mall on such a beautiful day.”</p><p>“Beautiful,” Billy murmured, without really meaning to. He tipped his head back on to the wall and closed his eyes.</p><p>Steve made a soft noise of assent, and at the next graze of their hands he grabbed Billy’s with purpose. He interlaced their fingers and then just let their joined hands dangle, not pulling, not squeezing. Just being.</p><p>Billy didn’t know how long they stayed like that. Maybe seconds, maybe hours. All he knew is when Steve did finally squeeze his hand he also shifted slightly away. Billy opened his eyes to see Steve standing in front of him, with a smile and knowing eyes. Triumphant eyes. And very visible bruises on the side of his neck, that Billy had given him. Another good look for Steve, then.</p><p>Steve stood there for a few moments more, smile quirking up on the left as if he could read Billy’s mind, before backing away. After a few steps, he gave Billy the tiniest of winks and turned to walk into the mall.</p><p>Billy flexed the hand Steve had held, and watched him disappear into the mall entrance. Flexed it again, and smiled.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Soooo the truth about what happened here is I had a bunch of ideas, then “Possibility” by Lykke Li (YES, THE SONG FROM TWILIGHT, WE’RE MOVING PAST IT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvMeOllo_Vo) came on, I promptly W E P T, and this happened.  I listened to that song like 10,000x as I wrote this and it was probably not healthy for me as a person, but like whatchu gonna do.</p><p>I will NOT apologize for the perhaps overly aggressive amount of details about being a lifeguard #WriteWhatYouKnow</p><p>A more appropriate song that I probably should’ve used but then I was just too far in it, so call it a mini playlist or whatever - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97sYm0Bkd3Y</p></blockquote></div></div>
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